DOVER, Del. – Aliyah Lawson hit a go-ahead jumper with 76 seconds left and blocked a shot in the closing seconds to propel the Coppin State women's basketball team to a 57-55 MEAC victory over Delaware State on Tuesday afternoon at Memorial Hall.
A junior from Whitby, Ontario, Canada, Lawson led all players with 20 points on 7-of-18 shooting with a pair of threes while adding six rebounds and two steals. Lawson now ranks third in the MEAC in scoring at 14.7 points per game.
Jalynda Salley, one of the leading rebounders in the Nation and the reigning MEAC Defensive Player of the Week, came up big in the final quarter and put up 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting along with five rebounds. Five of her points came in the final 3:48 and her free throw with a second remaining gave the Eagles a two-point lead.
Alexandria Hamilton and
Nailah Delinois each scored nine points apiece while Hamilton grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds and led CSU with three assists. Delinois also pulled down seven rebounds while
Hope Evans chipped in with six points and three rebounds.
Delaware State led by a single point after the first quarter and took a slim 30-24 lead into the half, but Coppin dominated the third quarter, outscoring the Hornets, 22-9 and making 9-of-18 shots from the floor.
CSU opened the period on a 12-2 run, starting with a three by Lawson, followed by five-straight points from Hamilton and a pair of inside jumpers from Salley. Delaware State cut the deficit to a single point at 36-35 with 5:18 remaining, but Lawson scored five of Coppin's next seven points to give the Eagles their largest lead of the game at 43-35 with just under three minutes to go in the quarter.
The Hornets answered with four-straight before Lawson buried a three to close out the quarter with the Navy & Gold on top, 46-39.
DSU opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to retake the lead, and it remained a one-possession game for most of the quarter with Lawson and Salley helping preserve the victory for Coppin in the final minute.
After Lawson's jumper with 1:16 remaining, the Eagles forced a miss on the defensive end and Salley put back a miss from Hamilton, giving CSU a 56-52 advantage with 29 seconds to go. Following a timeout, the Hornets hit a three to make it a one-point game with 23 ticks remaining.
Coppin turned the ball over following another timeout, but Lawson blocked a potential go-ahead shot by DSU's Sharajah Collins with three seconds left.
Coppin held the Hornets to just 35.5% shooting for the game and outrebounded Delaware State, 47-40, for the game. CSU grabbed 18 offensive rebounds which turned that into 18 second chance points and made 11-of-19 free throws compared to 7-of-13 for the Hornets.
The Eagles return home on February 20-21 when they take on Howard University in back-to-back 1 pm starts at PEC Arena.
